BOROUGH bar owners are being warned to make sure they have appropriate planning permissions in place for their businesses.

Dudley Council’s planning enforcement team, which works to ensure premises comply with planning regulations, has issued the warning following the prosecution of a Kingswinford bar boss who flouted enforcement notices on three occasions.

Jimmy Lee landed a court bill in excess of £6,000 when he appeared before Wolverhampton Crown Court last month.

Following a three-day trial, Lee was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £4,000 costs after being found guilty of failing to comply with an enforcement notice on three occasions in November 2011 while running Alter Ego in Kingswinford High Street.

Lee only had consent to run a restaurant or café but the council’s enforcement team discovered the venue was operating as a wine bar. And even when an enforcement notice was issued Lee continued to run the bar, the court heard.

Councillor Shaukat Ali, Dudley’s cabinet member for regeneration, said: “The vast majority of proprietors comply with planning regulations but this prosecution should act as a warning to others that Dudley Council will take appropriate action when people flout the law.”